Columnist Will's wife working for Perry

11/11/11 7:56 PM EST

Columnist George Will's wife recently signed on as an adviser to Texas governor Rick Perry, a campaign spokesman confirmed today.

Will's wife, Mari Maseng -- a former communications director to both Ronald Reagan and Bob Dole -- started working for the campaign more than a week ago and helped Perry prepare for his most recent disastrous debate performance. Will, who has made no secret of his distaste for Perry rival Mitt Romney, plans to disclose the connection this Sunday on ABC and in future Washington Post columns, according to Post editor Fred Hiatt.

Journalist’s spouses are often a touchy issue. Last month, NPR host Michele Norris took temporary leave from her job because her husband Broderick Johnson accepted a senior advisor position with the Obama campaign.

“There was no relationship between his wife and any campaign the last time he wrote a column on the campaign, or any aspect of the campaign,” Hiatt said. “This developed after the last column that was two weeks ago. He has never written a column while there was a relationship between his wife and the campaign.”

Will has however had multiple columns within the last two weeks. His most recent column for the Post was published online November 9 and in print November 10. A column about the GOP debates was published online November 4 (in print November 6), and a column that disparaged Romney as “the pretzel candidate” was published online October 28 (in print October 30).

And there is some confusion over Maseng’s status: Both Hiatt and Washington Post Writer Group editor Alan Scherer say that when Will informed them of Maseng’s role, he said it was unpaid. However, Miner told us that this was a paid position. Will did not return more than half-a-dozen calls.

Maseng’s job may also pose a problem for Will’s relationship with ABC News. On November 6, two days before the debate and after Maseng started her work for the campaign, Will appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and faulted Perry’s GOP challengers, including Romney.

“Fundamentally, the problem that [Romney] has and why he sits at this 25% lid and which -- why the Tea Party voters and the Republican Party won't vote for him, which is why conservatives don't want to vote for him -- is they think that he's got a secret, and his secret is going to be he's going to win the nomination and… set himself up as a moderate to run against Barack Obama as a moderate businessman,” Will said. “That's what they think. And they're valid to fear - much of the voters in the Republican Party are valid to fear that.”

Of Herman Cain, Will said, “I don't think his is a viable presidential campaign. He's not conducting it as a presidential campaign. He's not going where the early voters are going to vote, things like - little indices like that. He's not raising money. This looks like something other than what it purports to be."

Will did not mention Perry.

Similar issues arose before for Will and Maseng before. During a presidential debate in 1980, Will helped Ronald Reagan prepare beforehand then criticized his opponent, Jimmy Carter, as a television commentator afterward. In 1996, Will called a Clinton speech "American political flapdoodle” then defended Dole’s response—which he helped write, according to a 1996 article in The Washingtonian—on ABC.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that one of Will’s columns, about Romney, was published on November 2. It was published online on October 28, in print on October 30.